Additional Attributes for Color Control Marks

In the Color Control Bar Editor, there are two additional attributes for controlling the color control marks when you select "Color Control Mark" as the mark type:

Color Control Mark (with AutoClip)

The press sheet-related color control bar is clipped to the subject. When clipping to the subject, any color patches that would be clipped are included completely, and the color control bar is centered on the plate. You can specify the number of these patches to have color patches protrude beyond the subject (e.g. in case of small subjects that do not fill the paper).

The option "Minimum Number of Patches" lets you specify the minimum number of patches the color control bar must contain to prevent trimming of the position markers within the bar.

The setting has no effect on large subjects where the color control bar has already reached its required size due to adaptation to the subject.

This means, the setting is feasible for small subjects that do not fill the paper to prevent the color control bar from becoming too small.

Any additional patches that may be required are added equally on both sides.

Color Control Mark (with AutoPositioning)

Signa Station looks for suitable areas on the press sheet without 1ups and automatically places the color control marks there.

A color control mark with automatic positioning always has the AutoClip feature. This means that when you select "Color Control Mark (with AutoPositioning)", "Color Control Mark (with AutoClip)" is also automatically enabled.

Like with "Color Control Mark (with AutoClip)", this new mark type affects only marks placed in rela­tion to the press sheet. The mark is positioned regardless of the selected hotspot and the selected parent (paper, plate, etc.). The marks are fit automatically to the subject.

The clip path of the mark is taken into account in the search for unused areas for the color control mark.

If there is not enough space for the mark on the paper in the search direction, this mark is 'pushed' off the paper. During output, a warning is then issued, informing you that color control marks are out­side the paper.

Solely clip paths of the pages placed on the press sheets are used when searching for a suitable posi­tion for the color control mark.

Additional options for "Color Control Mark (with AutoPositioning)"

•"Search Direction": The search direction specifies the start position and the direction in which the system will look for unused space for the color control mark.

·"from bottom to top": The search for space for the color control mark starts at the bot­tom paper edge plus the gripper margin. The next free position upwards is selected if there is not enough space there.

·"from top to bottom": The search for space for the color control mark starts at the top paper edge. The next free position downwards is selected if there is not enough space there.

·"from center to top": Starting at the center of the paper, the search for space for the color control mark moves upwards.

·"from center to bottom": Starting at the center of the paper, the search for space for the color control mark moves downwards.

·"center to center": Starting at the center of the paper, the search for space for the color control mark moves in both directions.

•"Offset": This is the offset in Y direction by which the mark will be shifted. If "Axisymmetric Posi­tion for Front and Back" is not set, the offset works only if there is enough free space for the color control mark at the start position. The mark is positioned at the next free position in the set search direction if there is not enough space. In this case, the offset is ignored.

•"Bottom / Top Margin": Color control marks with AutoClip are normally placed directly onto the side without any margin with paper white around the control strip. Inpress Control and also Image Control need color control marks with such a margin to be able to measure properly. Using the "Bottom Margin" and "Top Margin" boxes, you can define a margin that is included when looking for free space on the paper, with the result that the color control bar is no longer positioned directly on the side.

•"Axisymmetric Position for Front and Back": When you set this option, the mark is shifted axisymmetrically on the front and back so that on thin paper, for example, test results are not falsified by marks shining through.

In this process, the mark offset on the front is always towards the bottom paper edge and the mark offset on the back always towards the top paper edge. For that reason, there must be enough space available for both marks (including offset) when searching for an unused position for the color control mark. In this case, the offset not only affects the start position but is gener­ally written to the data.

•"Invert Search Direction on Back with Perfecting"

When this option is enabled, the color control bar is placed on the same position on front and back, something that is necessary for presses with a perfector and internal color measuring sys­tem. The option is enabled by default when new color control bars are created.

•"Ignore mark if in gripper margin or not on paper":

In certain circumstances, it happens that a color control mark with automatic positioning is placed in the gripper margin or outside the paper. Such a positioning is pointless for color con­trol marks.
When this option is set, this mark is ignored during output and is not written to the PDF marks layer. This setting is important especially when working with the Signa Station server.
If the option is not set, an error message is issued, giving you the option of canceling output.

•"Warning if Inpress Control cannot measure the mark"

The Inpress Control measuring system can measure color control bars automatically while printing is in progress. However, as the paper guidance decreases from the start to the end of sheet printing, the rear part of the press sheet may start to flutter. In this case, Inpress Control is no longer able to focus and measure the color control bar. Therefore, when using Inpress Control, there is a requirement to place the color control bar from the start of printing to the middle of the paper and not beyond.

When automatically placing the color control bar, however, it can happen that there is not enough space for the color control bar either at the start of the paper or up to the middle of the sheet. It is then positioned at the next free spot. As a result, Inpress Control can no longer evaluate the color control bar

In this case, a warning can be issued when the sheets are output by enabling the option "Warning if Inpress Control cannot measure the mark". If a sheet with a color control bar above the center of the paper is then output, an error message appears indicating the problem:

With this warning, it is possible to automatically cancel jobs that are being processed with the Signa Server or the Signa GangServer. For this purpose, the option "Do not show this window again" must be enabled in the error message and the question answered with "No". After subsequent transfer of the suppressed message boxes to the servers, jobs that do not meet these criteria are canceled. This gives you the option before printing of placing the color control bar in an area where Inpress Control can measure it.

This optional warning is only available for color control bars with automatic positioning, as the final position on the sheet is only determined at the time of output.